Frankenstein's Monster

Swizzle

It's been a while since I did anything with head-to-toe normal maps and other fancy goodness, so I figured this was as good a time as any to get to it again. The TF2:1850 project has worn me a little thin on stylized stuff at the moment, so to alleviate some of the pain I'm going for a more realistic look.

I'm revamping a sculpt I did a few months ago for the head and I'll be getting to the body and clothes in short order. The goal is to make something that actually looks like it was cobbled together from different bodies, so I'm going to be having a couple of different skin tones along with stitches and bandaging galore. Anyway, enough words.



Crits, comments and cookies welcome.

ScudzAlmighty

still looks pretty stylized, though less than your usual. Honestly I'd like to see you go for full-on realism, maybe base him on a couple different but real people (but not DeNiro) and see where that takes you. Love that bum chin though:)

Swizzle

Oh, it's definitely pretty stylized. I just want to work on something with some muscle definition. I'd thought about basing it on a real person, but I decided that I liked the gnarly sort of face he has now.

Here's where the body is at the moment and a very rough paintover showing where I'm planning on taking this. There will probably be more chains and stitches and stuff in the final model, so don't take this as a finalized concept or anything.

I want to get away from the usual superhero or Hulk-type proportions and go for something with some more weight to it. I'm not there yet. I'm considering doing some pretty crazy asymmetry with the limbs.

Mike Yevin

Very nice to see some less stylized stuff from you Swizz, looks like your taking this in the right direction. I am excited to see how you tackle this one

danshewan

I like it, but I think the face could use some asymmetry. The profile view looks awesome, maybe some very subtle sagging of one side of the face (think stroke victim muscle paralysis) could look pretty cool.

Swizzle

Mike Yevin:
Thanks!

danshewan:
I agree about the face. I think some stroke paralysis could be pretty cool, so I'm certainly going to play with it.



Here's how things are looking at the moment. Still a lot to do, still a lot of details to add. I'm thinking of putting some chains wrapped around his chest and maybe adding a metal collar with a bit of chain hanging off it, but I'm not sure yet.

Cap Hotkill

looking great Swizzle, keep up the good work, i would only touch the Small arm a lil bit. right now it looks like the arm of a boy, maybe it a lil bit bigger

Zwebbie

The eyes are way, way too big if you ask me. You can defend it as a stylistic choice, but ninety-nine out of a hundred times it's someone not being able to wrap their head around eyes not being flat. Plus, I'd argue that it'd be a poor stylistic choice for a Frankenstein monster.

I'd also make the head less wide (I overdid it below, though). As always, I test things before I say them, so I'll leave you with a paintover even though I'm sure you're perfectly capable of understunding such simple things as I said .

Swizzle

I've narrowed up his head a touch and made his eyes a little smaller and higher. I also added some stroke victim sag and a teensy bit more detail to the stitches and hair. I'm undecided as to whether or not his face is sagging too much. I may open his eye just a tiny bit more.


I've been reworking the cloth for a couple of hours and it's finally to the point where I think I've got a handle on it. A lot of it is still kind of blobby and amorphous, but I hope to give it a lot better definition before I'm done. This is the first time I've done this much cloth sculpting, so there's a bit of a learning curve.

Super

I'd sort the anatomy out before detailing any further. You've made quite a few major errors.

Swizzle

Such as...? I'm well aware that the limbs are mismatched; it's completely intentional. What little anatomy I've sculpted as been based on images from body builders and anatomy books, though. If you just mean that it lacks definition, though, you're right. I've only blocked in the main forms and I'm going to be sculpting more defined musculature soon.

felipefrango

What errors, exactly? I think he's just deliberately trying to make it assymetrical by making limbs different, like they came from different sources I suppose? I like the idea but right now it look like a pattern. Weak limb on the left strong on the right then the other way around on the legs. Maybe make each leg a different lenght in a way that he'd stumble while walking or something?

Edit: Wrote this before Swizzle answered.

xk0be

Oh man this thing is freaky as hell. Well done

Super

felipefrango wrote: »

What errors, exactly? I think he's just deliberately trying to make it assymetrical by making limbs different, like they came from different sources I suppose? I like the idea but right now it look like a pattern. Weak limb on the left strong on the right then the other way around on the legs. Maybe make each leg a different lenght in a way that he'd stumble while walking or something?

Edit: Wrote this before Swizzle answered.

I'm not talking about proportions of mis-matched limbs.

So what errors exactly? There are errors in the depiction of anatomy itself. The sternocleidomastoid is incorrect with its insertion, the bicep generally should appear more block-like, not like a balloon. The omo-hyoideus (if it supposed to be that) on the neck is going in the wrong direction. The tricep and elbow area looks odd too but maybe incomplete. The quads are *totally* wrong, but I guess they'll be covered.

Hope that helps, I love a good Frankenstein and this has potential. But I'd look into those I mentioned.

Swizzle

felipefrango:
I'm actually planning on making the skinny leg a bit shorter kind of like the skinny arm. I'm going to wait on that while I sculpt the toes, though.

xk0be:
Thanks!

Super:
That's some helpful info. Thanks.



Not exactly a super-huge update, but eh. I've tweaked the fabric a touch and messed around with the anatomy a little, but it's tough finding references of large muscles in neutral positions with the skin still on. Forearms are kind of a pain.

ScudzAlmighty

what's stopping the shackle on his left hand from just falling off?

the cloth folds look really good, but the amount of them make the material look very thin and wet

sampson

i like the asymmetrical look you have going on. although why is his left sleeve long and the right arm short, unless he ripped it off? make that more obvious

frostymoose

How about adding one body part from an obese person? I like that its asymmetrical, but in a way it still seems too "neat" because the pairs of opposite arms and legs seem to be from people with the same build/body type.

The sculpting is coming along very well so far, though.

danshewan

I really like where this is going, Swiz. Great work on the clothing folds.

I agree with the previous comments about the uniformity of the asymmetry - adding a really fat arm or leg could really add to the character of the piece. Also, rather than a shackle for the thinner arm, maybe just a length of chain or something; like the good doctor couldn't find a shackle small enough for the only arm he could find in a pinch?

The only other thing that strikes me (in comparison to how nice the folds are looking) is how neat the edges of the fabric are - rip and fray 'em up a little!

conte

imho: trapezoid muscules are too big and his neck is really long,
i'd suggest to shorten it a bit, and his eyes are still too big(you made them
shorter, but they'd better to be narrower also) especially eye pupils.
cloth folds are awesome.

ae.

conte wrote: »

imho: trapezoid muscules are too big and his neck is really long.

I don't know conte i actually really like the proportions of the neck and traps and it give the model a lot of character.

conte

that was just my subjective opinion, sorry if i offended someone.

Swizzle

ScudzAlmighty:
Currently the shackle's just kind of hanging off his hand. I'm going to fiddle with it some more. As for the folds, well, I'm working on them.

sampson:
It's ripped off, yes, but I'm only going to be able to get that across well once I get the low-poly done and start texturing.

frostymoose:
I liked this idea, so I tried fattening up one of the legs. I dunno that it's working so hot, though.

danshewan:
I like the idea of wrapping some chain around the wrist, so I'll play with that.

edithegodfather:
Mudbox.

conte:
I'm aware that the neck is too long and there are some other weird anatomy things going on, but I'm also not going for strict realism here. If I were, his face would have much more subtle features. Chalk it up to style, I guess.




I'm trying a few new things here, the fat leg and cloth mainly. I'm trying strike the right balance with the cloth folds; currently they're still looking kind of wet, so I've been trying to fill in some of the folds and just make everything feel a bit more solid. Now I'm afraid that I'm venturing too far the other way and they're looking like rough-hewn marble. Urgh.

Something else I'm trying is a fat body part. I dunno that it's working. What I may do is have a muscular thigh and then a fat calf and foot stitched roughly on. I think that'd put some interesting visual weight at the end of the leg.



Here's the direction I'm thinking of heading once I get to texturing. I really, really like the idea of two different skin tones, so I think it should be pretty cool. This is nowhere near being anything like a final product, though; it's just a bit of quick painting to make sure I'm going in the right direction, so there are a ton of issues with it that would have to be corrected in the final textures.

P442

so good!